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Khaled Mattawa
Khaled Mattawa (born 1964) is a renowned Arab-American poet born in Libya. He is also a leading literary translator, focusing on translating Arabic poetry into English. Life Mattawa was born in Benghazi, the second largest city in Libya, where he spent his childhood and early teens. In 1979 he emigrated to the United States. He lived in the South for many years, finishing high school in Louisiana and completing bachelors degrees in political science and economics at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. He went on to earn an M.A. in English and an M.F.A. in creative writing from Indiana University (where he later taught creative writing). He has taught English and Creative Writing at Indiana University and at California State University, Northridge. Mattawa began writing poetry in late 1980s. His debut collection of poems was published in 1995. He then began working on translating Arabic poetry of renowned Arab poets into English, his translation of Questions and Their Retinue: Selected poems of Iraqi poet Hatif Janabi was published in 1996. He contributed to and edited 2 Anthologies on Arab American Literature. His work has appeared in Poetry, ''the Kenyon Review, Blackbird, Crazyhorse, New England Review, Callaloo, Poetry East, Michigan Quarterly Review, The Iowa Review, Black Warrior Review'' and The Pushcart Prize XIX, The Best American Poetry 1997 anthologies. Mattawa is a contributing editor for Banipal magazine, the leading independent magazine of contemporary Arab literature translated into English. He is president of Radius of Arab American Writers organization RAWI. As of 2011, he worked as an assistant professor of creative writing at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he lives and writes. Recognition Mattawa has won an Academy of American Poets award, the PEN award for literary translation, a 1997 Guggenheim Fellowship,http://www.gf.org/fellows/9558-khaled-mattawa the Alfred Hodder fellowship from Princeton University 1995-1996, an NEA translation grant, and 2 Pushcart prizes. Mattawa has also won the Arkansas Arabic Translation Prize and the Banipal Prize. These are the two major awards for translation of Arabic literature into English. He won the former for his translation of Hatif Janabi's poetry and the latter for Selected Poems of Adunis. The only other person to have won both the Arkansas and the Banipal awards is Samah Selim. Publications Poetry * Ismailia Eclipse. Riverside-on-Hudson, NY: Sheep Meadow Press, 1995. *''Zodiac of Echoes''. Keene, NY: Ausable Press, 2003. * Amorisco. Keene, NY: Ausable Press, 2008. * Tocqueville. Kalamazoo, MI: New Issues Poetry & Prose / Western Michigan University, 2010. Non-fiction *Mahmoud Darwish, The Poet's Art and His Nation. Fayetteville, AR: University of Arkansas Press, 2004. Translated *Hatif Janabi, Questions and Their Retinue: Selected poems. Fayetteville, AR: University of Arkansas Press, 1996. * Fadhil Al Azzawi, In Every Well A Joseph Is Weeping (poems of Quarterly Review of Books). *Saʻdī Yūsuf;, Without An Alphabet, Without A Face: Selected poems. St. Paul, MN: Graywolf Press, 2002. *Fadhil Al-Azzawi, Miracle Maker: Selected poems. Rochester, NY: BOA Editions, 2003. *Marām Miṣrī, A Red Cherry on a White-Tiled Floor: Selected poems. Tarset, Northumberland, UK: Bloodaxe, 2004; Port Townsend, WA: Copper Canyon Press, 2007. *Iman Mirsal, These are Not oranges, My Love: Selected poems. Riverside-on-Hudson, NY: Sheep Meadow Press, 2008. *Jumānah Sallūm Ḥaddād, Invitation to a Secret Feast: Selected poems. Dorset, VT: Tupelo Press, 2008. *Amjad Nasser, Shepherd of solitude: Selected poems, 1979-2004. London: Banipal Books, 2009. * Adonis, Selected Poems. New Haven, CT, & London: Yale University Press (Margellos World Republic of Letters), 2010. Edited * Post Gibran: Anthology of new Arab American writing. West Bethesda, MD: Kitab, 1999. * Dinarzad's Children: An Anthology of Arab American Fiction. Fayettteville, AK: University of Arkansas Press, 2004. ISBN 978-1-55728-912-4 Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.Search results = au:Khaled Mattawa, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Oct. 24, 2015. See also * English literature * Libyan literature * Arabic literature * List of Arab American writers * List of U.S. poets References External links ;Poems *Khaled Mattawa profile and 5 poems at the Academy of American Poets * Selected poems from Web Del Sol * Khaled Mattawa b. 1964 at the Poetry Foundation ;Audio / video * Griffin Poetry Prize biography of Khaled Mattawa, including video clip *Kheled Mattawa at YouTube *"Conversation: Libyan Poet Khaled Mattawa", PBS Newshour, March 1, 2011 ;Books *Khaled Mattawa at Amazon.com ;About * An interview with Khaled Mattawa on MELUS by Salah D. Hassan * [http://www.blackbird.vcu.edu/v6n2/features/mattawa_k/interview.htm A Conversation with Khaled Mattawa Jeff Lodge and Patty Paine for Blackbird online literary journal] * University of Michigan MFA Faculty *"Ali Ahmida & Khaled Mattawa", Charlie Rose, February 22, 2011 Category:1964 births Category:American people of Libyan descent Category:Libyan emigrants to the United States Category:University of Michigan faculty Category:Libyan poets Category:Living people Category:American writers of Arab descent Category:People from Benghazi Category:American poets of Arab descent Category:American poets Category:University of Tennessee at Chattanooga alumni Category:Indiana University alumni Category:California State University, Northridge faculty Category:21st-century poets Category:English-language poets Category:Poets Category:Translators to English